Story: Vaulting Ambition
Written By: Jordan Nardino
Series: Star Trek: Discovery
Year: 2018
While I was certainly on board for Discovery during it's first half, I admit that I didn't think I was going to become a big champion of it. It took me forever to even write reviews for a good chunk of episodes in that first half, partially because I was a bit busier during the airing of those episodes, but in many ways because I couldn't think of enough to say without a rewatch, and I wasn't feeling enough into the show to rewatch the episodes. But I had definitely enjoyed the final two episodes of that first half, and when the second chapter opened up, I had to force myself to rewatch a few just to catch up so I could pour my thoughts on these latest episodes out. Basically: this second half is firing on all thrusters, so much so that things I didn't like or felt mediocre or didn't make sense for me as a long time Trekker...suddenly are making more sense. This second half is working because they laid the groundwork in that first half. It may not have always been as fun to watch the first time around, but I've been kind of seeing reveals that I saw coming, and some I did not, and rewatching those earlier episodes and seeing that they were clearly heading this way all along. It's a real joy to watch this show now...and I am looking forward to the next episode the moment an episode ends now.
Burnham and Lorca head to the ISS Charon, the ship of Emperor Georgiou, where Burnham must confront the ghost from her past, and Lorca has to face the Emperor, knowing full well where he stands in this universe. On Discovery, Stamets is alive and in a coma, and within that coma he is trapped in the Spore Network between universes, with his Mirror Counterpart - and Saru must ask L'Rell for her help in trying to ease the pain of Voq/Tyler who is suffering major pain.
The Tyler story is the least interesting of the episode, but at the very least it clarifies some things: it is Voq's body altered to look like the real Tyler, who was killed, but with Tyler's DNA and memory placed on top of Voq's own mind. The ending of this story in the episode leads me to believe that L'Rell has killed the Klingon part of the brain...because of the way she screams when she does whatever she does to ease his mind, and Tyler begins to speak in English. Maybe Tyler has to go on living in this strange body, with his head all screwed up and confused. That could be an interesting story route to take. We will see.
The Stamets' story is very good, with Paul trapped in between universe's with his mirror counterpart hoping to find a way out for both of them...he sees Hugh, and chases after him. After being reminded of his death, he wants to just stay where the two can remain together and happy. But Hugh convinces him that it can't last, it will all be destroyed if he can't get out and repair the damage being done, damage created by the Mirror Stamets. After a lovely goodbye, Stamets manages to get himself out of the network and out into the universe...unfortunately he gets himself swapped into the wrong body. So he is now in Mirror Stamets' body on the Charon, and his mirror counterpart awakes in his own body on the Discovery. This is clearly leading to an interesting new path.
Obviously a major piece of the episode is Burnham on the Charon with Gerogiou. It is revealed that Emperor Georgiou treated Burnham as her own child in this universe, raising her (a scene which takes place at a dinner table where they are basically eating a Saru!), but when the Emperor doesn't trust Burnham at all, and believes she actually joined with the traitor Lorca - as the two had apparently become romantically involved in the Mirror Universe - Burnham reveals who she actually is, and what universe she comes from. Obviously, because of the Defiant, Georgiou knows all about the Prime Universe and the Federation...and she is willing to work with Burnham a bit, if Burnham will give some info on the Discovery and the Spore Drive tech to her.
Finally let's get to the big reveal of the episode, it is revealed that my (and others) theory that Lorca is from the Mirror Universe is, in fact, the case. The reveal was handled so well, that for a moment, I actually questioned my firm belief in the theory. They have Lorca in an Agony Booth on the Emperor's Ship, and a Terran comes in to exact an extra amount of torture on him for what Lorca had done to his sister. He kills one of Lorca's followers in front of him as well, hoping to get Lorca to name the girl...but Lorca can't name the girl. That's the moment when I thought "maybe he isn't from the mirror universe?" But in the end, he gets out of the agony booth, when the Terran attempts to keep him from dying (as to not be killed by Georgiou himself), but Lorca (who had Burnham give him something to handle the pain of the agony booth better) gets up and kills the Terran...and then names the sister. Just as Burnham pieces it all together herself. Fun times next week are definitely ahead!
NEXT TIME: Lorca's Evil Scheme
Written By: Jordan Nardino
Series: Star Trek: Discovery
Year: 2018
While I was certainly on board for Discovery during it's first half, I admit that I didn't think I was going to become a big champion of it. It took me forever to even write reviews for a good chunk of episodes in that first half, partially because I was a bit busier during the airing of those episodes, but in many ways because I couldn't think of enough to say without a rewatch, and I wasn't feeling enough into the show to rewatch the episodes. But I had definitely enjoyed the final two episodes of that first half, and when the second chapter opened up, I had to force myself to rewatch a few just to catch up so I could pour my thoughts on these latest episodes out. Basically: this second half is firing on all thrusters, so much so that things I didn't like or felt mediocre or didn't make sense for me as a long time Trekker...suddenly are making more sense. This second half is working because they laid the groundwork in that first half. It may not have always been as fun to watch the first time around, but I've been kind of seeing reveals that I saw coming, and some I did not, and rewatching those earlier episodes and seeing that they were clearly heading this way all along. It's a real joy to watch this show now...and I am looking forward to the next episode the moment an episode ends now.
The Tyler story is the least interesting of the episode, but at the very least it clarifies some things: it is Voq's body altered to look like the real Tyler, who was killed, but with Tyler's DNA and memory placed on top of Voq's own mind. The ending of this story in the episode leads me to believe that L'Rell has killed the Klingon part of the brain...because of the way she screams when she does whatever she does to ease his mind, and Tyler begins to speak in English. Maybe Tyler has to go on living in this strange body, with his head all screwed up and confused. That could be an interesting story route to take. We will see.
The Stamets' story is very good, with Paul trapped in between universe's with his mirror counterpart hoping to find a way out for both of them...he sees Hugh, and chases after him. After being reminded of his death, he wants to just stay where the two can remain together and happy. But Hugh convinces him that it can't last, it will all be destroyed if he can't get out and repair the damage being done, damage created by the Mirror Stamets. After a lovely goodbye, Stamets manages to get himself out of the network and out into the universe...unfortunately he gets himself swapped into the wrong body. So he is now in Mirror Stamets' body on the Charon, and his mirror counterpart awakes in his own body on the Discovery. This is clearly leading to an interesting new path.
Obviously a major piece of the episode is Burnham on the Charon with Gerogiou. It is revealed that Emperor Georgiou treated Burnham as her own child in this universe, raising her (a scene which takes place at a dinner table where they are basically eating a Saru!), but when the Emperor doesn't trust Burnham at all, and believes she actually joined with the traitor Lorca - as the two had apparently become romantically involved in the Mirror Universe - Burnham reveals who she actually is, and what universe she comes from. Obviously, because of the Defiant, Georgiou knows all about the Prime Universe and the Federation...and she is willing to work with Burnham a bit, if Burnham will give some info on the Discovery and the Spore Drive tech to her.
Finally let's get to the big reveal of the episode, it is revealed that my (and others) theory that Lorca is from the Mirror Universe is, in fact, the case. The reveal was handled so well, that for a moment, I actually questioned my firm belief in the theory. They have Lorca in an Agony Booth on the Emperor's Ship, and a Terran comes in to exact an extra amount of torture on him for what Lorca had done to his sister. He kills one of Lorca's followers in front of him as well, hoping to get Lorca to name the girl...but Lorca can't name the girl. That's the moment when I thought "maybe he isn't from the mirror universe?" But in the end, he gets out of the agony booth, when the Terran attempts to keep him from dying (as to not be killed by Georgiou himself), but Lorca (who had Burnham give him something to handle the pain of the agony booth better) gets up and kills the Terran...and then names the sister. Just as Burnham pieces it all together herself. Fun times next week are definitely ahead!
NEXT TIME: Lorca's Evil Scheme